Palestinian Women at the Intersection of Colonial and Patriarchal Violence: Cultural renegotiations of religion and tradition in Gaza

This project examines the challenges of intervening in
Violence Against Women (VAW) in Palestine, a patriarchal
society, which is also under military-colonial occupation.
With a focus on the Gaza Strip, the study examines
Palestinian women's perceptions and experiences of VAW
as well as their attitudes toward the interventions on VAW
implemented in their communities. It critically examines
international secular models of interventions on VAW
while, at the same time, exploring the possibility of
combatting VAW by reappropriating certain religious and
traditional norms, on which Palestinian social cohesion and
survival rest in the context of settler colonial occupation. By
doing so, it produces new knowledge on VAW at the
intersection of military-colonial violence and patriarchy in
Islamic societies. This is an applied research project,
which is influenced by participatory action research. It
uses qualitative methods to address how Gaza Palestinian
women respond to VAW and how they experience the
mostly secular models of interventions implemented in
Gaza. The project will also involve key professional figures
in the field of VAW (NGOs, police, psychologists) and
community and religious leaders while foregrounding the
voices, concerns of Palestinian women. This is a
collaborative project with two Gaza-based Palestinian
organisations-The Gaza Mental Health Programme and
the Save Youth Future Society-with which the applicant
has established working relationships. The applicant has
extensive experience in the field of women rights, and she
is planning to use the findings of the research for
implementing new community-based pilot projects on
VAW after the completion of the PhD.